Warsaw, March 21, 2025
St. Szymon Fedorońko (left), St. Włodzimierz Ochab (right). Photo: Wikipedia, swzygmunt.knc.pl
At its session on Tuesday, March 18, the Holy Synod of the Polish Orthodox Church canonized three priests who were martyred in 1940 and those who were killed with them.
In particular, the hierarchs canonized Archpriest Col. Szymon Fedorońko, Archpriest Lt. Col. Wiktor Romanowski, and Archpriest Maj. Włodzimierz Ochab, who were victims of the Katyn Massacre, along with other “clergy and laity whose names we know and do not know. Only Almighty God knows them,” reports the Polish Church.
The Katyn Massacre was a mass execution operation carried out by the Soviet NKVD under Stalin’s orders in April-May 1940. Nearly 22,000 victims—including Polish military officers, police personnel, border guards, and intellectuals who were prisoners of war—were systematically killed. Though the executions took place at multiple locations, the atrocity became known as the Katyn Massacre because some of the mass graves were first discovered by German forces in the Katyn Forest in 1943. In 2010, Russian Parliament formally acknowledged Soviet leaders’ culpability in the massacre.
The Polish Synod stated:
The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, called by Him to life, throughout its history has been and continues to be tested and persecuted. However, it’s always strengthened by the martyrdom of Christ’s faithful disciples. On every drop of martyrs’ blood, new Church life is built.
The Orthodox Church in Poland has experienced these trials throughout its history. Therefore, our generation bows its head before their martyrdom and proclaims them saints. In history, we have done much in this regard: these are the martyrs of the time of the Union of Brest, the First and Second World Wars, and various resettlements of the faithful of our Church.
Their canonizations will be celebrated on September 17, which will also be their feast day. The Synodal hierarchs also approved the troparion and icon in their honor.
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St. Szymon Fedorońko was the chief chaplain for the Orthodox in the Polish army. He attended the Orthodox seminary in Zhytomyr and was ordained to the priesthood in 1914 at the age of 21. He began his military chaplaincy in 1922, serving in various places throughout Poland. He became the chief Orthodox chaplain in 1935. He was taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1939 and imprisoned in Moscow. He was later sent to Katyn, in Western Russia, where he was murdered on April 30, 1940.
St. Wiktor Romanowski was also a military chaplain. He also graduated from the Zhytomyr Seminary and the School of Orthodox Theology at the Józef Piłsudski University in Warsaw. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 7, 1921, at the age of 22. He began his chaplaincy work in 1930. In 1939, he was taken captive by the Soviets. He was murdered in the spring of 1940 in Kalinin (present-day Tver).
St. Włodzimierz Ochab was also a military and prison chaplain. He graduated from the Orthodox Theology school at the University of Warsaw. On March 22, 1931, he was ordained to the priesthood, at the age of 31. He began his chaplaincy work with the Polish army in 1936. In 1938–1939, he was a chaplain at the Drohobych penitentiary. He was arrested on October 13, 1939 by the Soviets. He was held at several camps, and ultimately killed in April–May 1940 in Kalinin.
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